Inevitable
by theasbofive
Summary: A series of AU one-shots, revolving around that inevitable first kiss... [Three: It's ironic, Jesse thinks, that the one girl that he meets whilst on vacation is the one girl that he can't stop thinking about but Beca's so witty and so...effortlessly beautiful that he just can't seem to shake his attraction towards her.]
1. one - best friends and (or) lovers

**Hi :) This is a series of AU one-shots revolving around that _inevitable_ first kiss. I hope you enjoy them!**

* * *

_**[1. Beca's been friends with Jesse ever since she was eleven but now that they're leaving school and going to different colleges, she doesn't know how she's going to cope. She doesn't want to have to cope. But she'll manage. She always does.]**_

* * *

NUMBER _**ONE**_

Beca's known him ever since his family moved into the house next door to hers when she was eleven. His parents had knocked on their door to introduce themselves and he had confidently walked up to her, a huge grin on his face as he stuck a hand out towards her.

"I'm Jesse," he had said, "We're going to be _best of friends_."

She had raised her eyebrows at him, crossing her arms, giving him the most unimpressed look she could manage as she stepped backwards, away from his reach, not bothering to respond. He had just laughed at her reaction, completely unfazed, taking another step towards her as their parents chatted away about _the weather_ of all things, before proceeding to ramble on about some movie he had seen.

Even at aged eleven though, Jesse had been unbelievably persistent; it hadn't taken long for him to realise that they were both going to be attending the same school and she had been horrified to find him standing outside her door on the first day of the school year, a grin on his face as he had asked her if she wanted to walk there together. She had contemplated – and then promptly tried – shutting the door in his face but he had quickly stuck his foot out, preventing her from doing so as he gave her an easy smile.

"Come on, Beca," he had said, "You might as well walk with me, it's better than being alone."

She had sighed but had eventually conceded to his request, walking stiffly beside him, ignoring his attempts to strike up a conversation with her. She had always preferred her own company; it was just easier that way. Still, Jesse hadn't given up, continuing to show up at her door every morning and it wasn't until a whole _two weeks_ later, when he started enthusiastically discussing the soundtrack of a movie he had seen that she had turned to him, eyes wide.

"You're into music?" she had asked, the words falling out of her mouth before she could stop them, grimacing a little as he grinned triumphantly at her, nodding.

After that, it didn't take long before Jesse had managed to slowly ease his way through her walls and somehow, along the years, they had struck up an odd sort of friendship. He had been there through her parents' eventual messy divorce and in return, she had spent hours of her life watching movies that she really couldn't care less about with him. He had discovered her not-so-secret love for apple juice, proceeding to bring her some every single morning, and she had comforted him after his attempts to impress some girl in his class backfired.

* * *

The truth of the matter is, Jesse had been right all those years ago, he had become her friend, her only real friend…and now that they're leaving school and going to college, _different _colleges, she doesn't know how she's going to cope.

She doesn't _want_ to have to cope.

It's selfish, she knows it is, but there's a big part of her that wishes that he could come with her.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but…I'm going to miss you, dork," Beca says, walking into his open arms, mumbling the words against his chest. She feels him tighten his grip ever so slightly, pulling her closer and she lets herself _feel_, remembering all the little things about him because she knows that, no matter what he says, it's going to be a while before she gets to be in his presence again.

"Hey, come on, it's not like you're never going to see me again, we'll Skype and text every day," he says firmly, reaching a hand out to gently tilt her chin upwards, his eyes finding hers, "You won't be able to get rid of me that easily, Beca. Besides, I'm irreplaceable; I'm sure you won't be able to find someone as charming and as handsome as me at college—"

She rolls her eyes, reaching up to whack him lightly on the chest with one hand, the other one still wrapped tightly around his waist. She's not going to let go, not until he does.

"You're an idiot," she says, "You're an actual idiot. _Totally_ replaceable."

He just hums softly under his breath for a few moments, his chin resting lightly on the top of her head, before he sobers up a little, his voice sincere as he starts speaking again. "I'm going to miss you too," he says quietly, "But I'll definitely come and visit you soon, okay? I _promise_."

* * *

Her first day of college is…eventful, to say the least. Her roommate is a girl who's unlike anyone she's ever met. She introduces herself as 'Fat Amy' without even _blinking_ and, instead of unpacking, promptly flops herself down on Beca_'_s bed and starts giving her a lesson in how to wrestle crocodiles before telling her a long, twisted story about how she once saw a phascogale in a tree [and no, Beca doesn't even bother to ask what that is, split between being completely _horrified_ at the fact that the girl is rolling around on her bed with her shoes on and the fact that she wishes Jesse was here because he would get a real kick out of the whole thing].

Still, there's something about her enthusiasm and cheeriness that reminds her of Jesse and she supposes she could have gotten a worse roommate. At least she's not a serial killer, she thinks…and then curses herself mentally because what the hell? Who even thinks that? She has clearly watched too many stupid movies with Jesse.

Amy manages to drag her to the activities fair later that day, still rambling on about numbats and doughnuts and god knows what else. They walk around together, just absorbing their surroundings [and oh my god, is that a Quidditch stand she can see in the corner?] before Amy starts tugging on her arm, leading her towards a stand, proudly labelled 'Barden Bellas'.

"Can you sing? Can you match pitch?" the redhead at the stand asks brightly, as soon as they approach, giving them a smile so wide that Beca feels a little uncomfortable and weirdly _exposed_. She begins to hastily shake her head but before she can pull Amy away, the Australian girl has started belting out a song, using her chest as a drum. She wants to laugh, she does, but Amy seems really into it [and so far, she's proved to be crazy but _nice_] so instead, she just bites her lip, swallowing hard. She watches, bemused, as Amy suddenly drops down on the floor, demonstrating something called _mermaid dancing_ and oh wow, this is too much. She's not the only one that thinks that either; the blonde girl standing beside the redhead looks so surprised by the sight that she actually looks a bit nauseous...?

"Oh, I don't sing," she says, as the blonde girl – reluctantly – hands Amy a flyer and the redhead beside her turns to look at her expectantly and, out of the corner of her eyes, she sees the blonde girl eye her piercings warily and breathe a sigh of relief at her words. _Okay_ then. Clearly someone takes a capella a little too seriously...

When they finally return back to their room, Amy having signed up for more than twenty different clubs and Beca signed up to _zero_, the first thing she does is log on to her computer, opening Skype. She smiles to herself as she sees that Jesse is online, quickly typing him a message but before she can press send, he's calling her, a window popping up.

"Hey, dork," she greets, as soon as he appears on her screen, "How's it going over there?"

He grins at her, beginning to fill her in on his roommate [who, to her utmost surprise, sounds even dorkier than Jesse himself] and how much he's loving the campus and the people and _god_, though she promised herself she wouldn't, she can't help but once again wish that he was here with her. After years of seeing him every single day, it's just…weird to be apart, that's all.

But she'll manage. She always does.

"You alright?" he asks, moments later, picking up on her unusual quietness and she can see the concern in his eyes, even through her dodgy webcam. She nods slowly, giving him a small smile, as she starts telling him about Amy and about the crazy a capella girls that she had met earlier, rolling her eyes as Jesse's eyes light up in amusement and he tries to convince her to give them a chance:

"Aw, come on, join the Bellas," he says, leaning closer towards the camera, "You're a great singer! Look, if you join, I'll totally join the a capella group here and challenge you for the title of, uh…best a capella group?"

* * *

She doesn't know why but she ends up doing exactly what Jesse told her to do and joins the Bellas. It's weird, at first, being around so many girls [_especially_ the blonde one who, for some reason, definitely doesn't like her] but after a while, thanks to Amy's continued efforts to involve her in absolutely _everything_ and the redhead, Chloe, who doesn't seem to understand the concept of personal space, it gets a little easier.

Jesse keeps his word too, proudly showing off his maroon Treblemakers hoodie to her through his webcam the next time she speaks to him, before bursting into some made-up song about how he's going to _out sing _her.

"Dude, stop," she says, biting her lip to stop herself from laughing as she watches him get completely carried away, moving his hands in time to the music, "Stop or I swear, I'm going to shut my computer down."

He simply grins at her, shaking his head as he continues, both of them knowing that her threats are empty; she misses him, she does, and she's not about to cut him off, not until she has to.

* * *

They're about a month into their first terms at college when Jesse starts name-dropping a certain girl in his music class every single time they speak and it quickly becomes obvious how smitten he is [Jesse is anything but subtle…] and she's _not_ jealous, she's not. Her and Jesse, they've had an unspoken pact to never go there, ever since they were fifteen and Jesse had tried to make a move and it had almost ruined their friendship.

She's just a little…put out by it, that's _all_, especially when, a week later, he triumphantly tells her about how he successfully asked her out on a date and he stops calling her on a daily basis and she feels more alone than she has in a long while. She tries to forget about it, throwing herself into Bellas rehearsals with a renewed vigour, her sudden passion for cardio 'scaring the _peanut butter_' out of Amy [her words, not Beca's].

Beca refuses to tell him what's wrong when he asks the next time she manages to get a hold of him because she feels like she's overreacting about the whole thing and he gives her a worried look before beginning to finalise the plans for her visit next month, not pushing her any further.

* * *

When next month finally arrives and she gets off the train at the station nearest to his campus, he's there waiting for her, a huge grin spreading on his face as he spots her and she can't help but smile back, her previous worries momentarily forgotten.

"What's up, weirdo?" she says as she punches him lightly on the arm in greeting, falling into step beside him as they walk back to his campus. They quickly return to their usual ways, teasing each other and it's weird but it's almost like they're back home again and they haven't been separated for over two months.

…But, of course, as soon as they reach his dorm room, reality kicks in and she frowns slightly at the girl inside who automatically drapes herself over Jesse in a possessive fashion, shooting Beca a glare behind his back.

"I'm Melissa," she says, introducing herself, "I'm Jesse's _girlfriend_."

Beca swallows, eyebrows raised at the sight. "Uh, yes, I know." she replies through gritted teeth, hating herself a little for instantly disliking the girl, especially when Jesse looks so happy and blissfully unaware of the tension in the room.

They go out to dinner that night, all three of them, Jesse trying his best to awkwardly involve them both into the conversation but his attempts fall flat. Melissa completely refuses to talk to her, except to ambush her when she's on her way to the bathroom, threatening to _kill_ her if she touches Jesse. She doesn't quite know what to make of that or what to do so she just does what she does best and smirks, riling the other girl up even further.

It's not until they're finally alone, Melissa having reluctantly returned to her own dorm room, when Jesse taps her on the shoulder with a sigh, his eyes searching hers. "Beca, what's wrong?" he asks, his voice filled with concern, "You're acting different."

She doesn't reply at first, pointedly moving away from him to pull out her pyjamas from her bag but she can feel his eyes burning a hole into her back and eventually she sighs, waving an arm at him in a dismissive fashion.

"Nothing's wrong," she tells him, forcing a smile onto her face, even though she knows he doesn't believe her, because what else can she say? He looked so happy earlier and she's not about to tell him that she can't _stand_ his new girlfriend. She's not that cruel.

"Beca, I like her," he says later, as always, able to read her like a book, "I really do."

She gives him a half-smile, nodding once as she moves to sit beside him, resting her head against his shoulder. She misses the days when it was just them. She misses the days when she was the only one who could make him laugh so hard that he started complaining about it physically hurting him. She misses the days when he was there for her at all times of the day, no questions asked.

She just misses _him_.

* * *

She's surprised when she gets a text on her phone three weeks later and sees Jesse's name flashing on the screen. She hasn't heard from him for a while, having given up on trying to contact him because nowadays, he's always out with Benji or Melissa and she sort of feels a bit like a third wheel. She guesses it's inevitable though – who were they kidding? They were never going to stay as close as they had been back at home – and she supposes it's for the best: she still can't stand Melissa and besides, Bellas rehearsals are literally _all the time_ and she's been busy.

Still, when she sees Jesse's text, a simple 'Call me', she can't help but instantly stop what she's doing, quickly pressing one on her speed dial.

"Jesse, are you okay?" she asks, as soon as he picks up, and she feels her heart clench at the miserable tone in his voice as he responds, telling her all about how Melissa _cheated_ on him.

She knew there was a reason why she couldn't stand that girl.

"Come here," she tells him, feeling a little helpless as she listens to him talk, unable to do anything to _fix_ the situation and make him feel better when he's so far away, "Come and see me."

* * *

In true Jesse fashion, very soon after he arrives that weekend, flopping himself on her bed miserably, he drags her out to some frat party that Amy had unsubtly mentioned and gets completely wasted. He had never been good at handling heartbreak - he had always been the one who had given too much and fallen too fast - and over the years, she had built up plenty of experience in dealing with Jesse in this state.

"Jess, come on," she says, as she watches him stumble, placing her hand on his arm to steady him, "I think it's time for you to go to sleep."

He just turns to her, giving her a stupidly wide grin and nods, slowly walking towards her, muttering nonsensical things under his breath. She sighs a little but leads him outside, putting a firm hand on his back.

"You'll be okay," she tells him, even though she knows he's not listening, not really, "I promise."

It's not until later, when she's lying beside him on her bed that he appears to sober up a little, turning to face her, his eyes solemn.

"You're the best," he states simply, before proceeding to wave his arms around wildly, "You're my favourite person in the _whole, wide world_."

Beca smiles at that, smiles at him, closing her eyes and shifting a little closer to him, despite the strong smell of alcohol that surrounds him, as she speaks again. "Get some sleep, dork."

She feels him nod multiple times against her head before falling silent, and she's just about to drift off when she _swears_ she hears him say the three words that, at fifteen, she had made him promise to never say to her again for the sake of their friendship. She tries to shake it off as just Jesse being drunk and all worked up from the Melissa aftermath but she can't help but think about how sincere he had sounded and how those words didn't scare her as much as they should.

Jesse's her best friend and he always will be but…_maybe_ that's not enough anymore.

* * *

Beca's surprised to find that she's more than a little disappointed when he wakes up the next morning with a pounding headache and absolutely no recollection of the previous night. If she's honest, she doesn't know what she had expected but it certainly wasn't _this_. She can tell that he knows something is wrong from the way that he squints at her, a frown on his face but she doesn't give anything away, forcing a smile as she hands him a cup of water and an aspirin.

"You're my saviour," he says, accepting them gratefully, proceeding to bow down at her…before abruptly straightening up with a grimace, the movement causing his head to hurt even more. She just rolls her eyes lightly, watching as he swallows, her eyes fixated on his strong jaw and earnest eyes.

She's not blind. She's known for a long time now that Jesse is certainly not _unattractive_ but she's never really paid that much attention to him, always forcing herself to think of him as her friend. Now that she's actually taking a proper look though, her mind still working in overdrive from the memory of the way he had mumbled those three _loaded _words into her hair last night, she lets herself appreciate the sight. Just for a second.

"Okay, do I have something on my face?" he asks slowly, reaching up to rub at his chin self-consciously, "You're staring. I mean, I know I'm _oh, so, handsome_ but—"

"—Dude, stop," she cuts him off, her hand automatically raising up to whack him on the side of his head before stopping as soon as she gets within a millimetre's distance of his face, remembering his currently hungover state. "Just stop," she repeats, retrieving her hand as instead, she leans against his shoulder and feels his arm wrap around her, pulling her towards him.

She stays there, sitting beside him, listening as he slowly sobers up completely and starts to talk through what had happened with Melissa and she tries to cheer him up to the best of her ability. He leaves the next morning, looking much happier than he had done yesterday, and she can't help but press her lips to his cheek momentarily as he pulls her in for a farewell hug, laughing a little at the surprised look on his face. She doesn't think she's ever done that in all their years of being friends.

"Call me tonight?" she asks, as he's still staring at her, looking endearingly confused but eventually he smiles at her, pulling her closer, pressing his lips against her forehead once before nodding at her and turning to go.

* * *

She's glad to find that after his visit, they go back to their usual ways and they both make an effort to put aside some time to talk to the other every day. He tells her about Benji's latest magic trick and his anal Treblemakers leader, some guy named _Bumper_, and in return, she tells him about Amy's crazy antics and her own anal Bellas leader, Aubrey.

Going back to their normal routine, it makes her realise just how much she had missed this when he had been with Melissa [or, _She Who Must Not Be Named_, as Jesse now refers to her]. It also doesn't help that ever since that night when he had been drunk on her bed, uttering words that he really _shouldn't_ have been uttering, she's finding him more and more appealing in ways that are completely inappropriate.

Beca guesses she shouldn't be that surprised by this development; after all, Jesse knows her better than anyone else and he _gets_ her [even when he's being ridiculous like he is right now and reciting movie facts at her at lightning speed without pausing to take a breath]...but still, the feeling's weird and unfamiliar and she's not quite sure what to do, especially because she knows that Jesse would never have said those words to her if he had been sober.

* * *

They find out that they're going to be competing at Regionals together in three months time and she throws herself into rehearsals, practically _forcing_ her new mix onto Aubrey, not accepting 'no' for an answer; Jesse has been constantly dropping hints about how amazing their set is and she's not going to go down without a fight.

The big day comes sooner than she expects and she wakes up that morning, jumping in alarm as she opens her eyes to see Amy leaning over her, dangling a slice of pizza in front of her face.

"_Dude_! What the hell are you doing?" she exclaims, pushing her head back further into the pillow, warily eyeing the bits of cheese that look like they could fall off onto her _face _any second now.

Amy just shrugs her shoulders, retrieving the pizza and stuffing it in her mouth in one go as she explains and Beca closes her eyes with a grimace as she gets a very good view of a half-digested tomato mush, "I was just…experimenting."

"Experimenting?" she echoes, sitting up and dragging herself over to the wardrobe, pulling out the 'uniform' that one of the other Bella girls, Stacie, had designed. They aren't exactly the type of clothes that she would normally wear – the whole outfit is a little _short_ and a little too _girly_ – but Stacie had insisted and she had learnt from previous experience that it was better not to argue with the brunette.

"Yep," Amy replies, still chewing, "Just thought I'd see whether this would work better than a regular alarm clock." She raises an eyebrow in response but doesn't say anything more. Sharing a room with Amy has been…interesting, to say the least, and this is one of the more _sane_ things she has done.

All the Bellas make their way to the competition venue safely and without much difficulty and she grins as she hears a familiar voice call her name as soon as she steps foot into the building.

"Ready for me to take you down?" Jesse asks, as he promptly pulls her into a hug and she rolls her eyes, shaking her head at him, not even bothering to answer because hey, she's going to win, okay? She's sure of it. He just grins before winking at her as he adds, "I have to admit though, I don't know if I can take you _down _any further, you're already so short…"

"—You're not funny," she interrupts, hitting him on the arm but she can't help but smile despite herself, burrowing her head further into his chest. She will never get tired of this, tired of him. Being away from him for so long has just solidified the fact that he means more to her than _just a friend_.

"I'm hilarious," he replies, chuckling to himself as he flings an arm around her waist and pulls her towards the auditorium and she rolls her eyes, shifting herself ever so slightly closer to him, revelling in the comfort that being so close to him brings.

* * *

As she watches him perform, confidently moving across the stage as he serenades all the girls and boys in the front row, she knows that she needs to do something to make him truly understand what he means to her before he leaves her once again…and later, after all has been said and done [and, of course, the Bellas have _won_], she drags him away from his group and they sit on the grass outside, leaning against one of the trees, idly chatting to one another.

"Well done," he says sincerely, minutes later, "You were amazing today, Beca."

She smiles at him, moving her head up from his shoulder so that she can see him properly as she replies, "So were you. I mean, _obviously _you weren't as good as me but—"

"—Oh, shut up," he cuts in, with an easy smile, nudging her shoulder lightly and as they fall silent again, she knows this is it, she has to do _something_.

"Jesse?" she asks, swallowing once as he turns towards her, a curious expression on his face as he waits for her to expand.

She swallows again before slowly reaching up to pull his head down to her level but once she's done it, she freezes. He's staring at her like he can't quite believe what's happening and…to be honest, she can't too. She's accepted that her feelings for him are definitely more than they should be but yet, she doesn't know if she can do this, she doesn't know if she can break that rule they had set all those years ago at fifteen, she doesn't know if she can risk their friendship for…whatever this is. She closes her eyes, leaning forward to rest her forehead against his, as she breathes out, a million thoughts running through her mind as she desperately tries to work out what to do.

A few seconds pass before she hears him softly whisper her name and she slowly cracks her eyes open, expecting the worse. Instead, she sees a grinning Jesse, looking happier than she's ever seen him [even when he was with _her_] and her breath catches as she watches him lean forward ever so slowly, his eyes glinting, and presses his lips firmly against hers.

"I knew you'd fall for my charms eventually," he states, moments later and she can _feel_ him smiling, his lips brushing the side of her cheek and she jolts backwards, away from him, promptly reaching up and punching him on the arm.

"Jesus, you just had to ruin the moment, didn't you?" she says but she's laughing and it makes him laugh too, and she wonders what she had been so afraid of. This was Jesse, he was harmless and dorky and ridiculous…but he was _hers_.


	2. two - you know german?

**_[2. Jesse's not sure what surprises him more; the fact that Beca has proved to be semi-fluent in German or the fact that here she is, in his dorm room on a Sunday morning, trying to teach him how to conjugate the present perfect tense.]_**

* * *

**N**UMBER **T**WO

Although he knows that he probably should be, Jesse's not at all surprised when he walks into the radio station on the first day of his internship and finds the mysterious girl that he had serenaded impulsively from his parents' car last week standing there; after all, he's always been a believer in fate and, well, this is _clearly_ the universe's way of telling him that they're meant to be friends. Or lovers—

—Okay, maybe not. Jesse's not a complete idiot and, as much as he wishes differently, he knows that his life isn't some movie and that there isn't some director up there in the sky calling the shots, making sure he gets his happy ending; no, that's up to him and if there's one thing that he desperately wants to do right now, it's to get to know his fellow intern a little better because she's staring at him with a completely unreadable expression on her face, looking suitably unimpressed by everything about him [although granted, that could be because he's so very late, having had to deal with Benji getting his head stuck in a box whilst multiple _birds _flew around the ceiling of their shared room – don't ask, to be honest, he's still not sure how it all happened] and, hey, Jesse's always liked a challenge. It also helps that she's really quite pretty and _whoa_, come on, slow down.

"I know you," Jesse states with an easy grin, moving to stand beside her as she continues to stare at him, an eyebrow raised, before promptly turning to Luke, the station manager, "_I know her_."

To her credit, she doesn't even bother to respond; instead, backing away ever so slightly, shooting him a wary look as Luke starts explaining the rules, pulling out a whole crate of CDs for them to sort and he can't help but groan inwardly at the sight because really? This is not what he signed up for. Still, he guesses he can't complain because although, sure, the idea of spending his free time stacking CDs is definitely unappealing to him, the idea of finding out more about this girl is definitely _not_ and he knows he'll get by.

"Becky, Jesse, are you clear on the rules?" Luke prompts, glancing between the two of them, "It's pretty simple, really. Just start by sorting out these CDs in here…and when you're done, there's more in the back."

Jesse nods slowly in response, even though his attention isn't really fixed on what Luke is saying but instead, on the indecipherable girl, _Becky_, who's still standing opposite him, giving him a really blank stare.

"Oh and one last thing," Luke says, looking like he's suddenly had an epiphany as he leans towards them, a smirk on his face as he conspiratorially adds, "No sex on the desk. I've been burned before."

Jesse watches as her eyes widen at Luke's words, glancing between the desk and him with a badly disguised look of horror on her face, her cool façade faltering momentarily and he latches onto it immediately, leaning over and waggling his eyebrows at her suggestively.

"_Dude_," she says, shaking her head as she addresses him for the first time since they've been in the same room together, "Don't even think about it."

"Aw, come on, I'm just kidding," he replies, putting his hands up in mock-surrender as he slowly runs a finger across the surface of the desk contemplatively, "Besides, I don't think sex on this desk is a good idea anyway. Have you seen the state of this thing?"

She raises an eyebrow at him, her lips twitching ever so slightly, and he mentally curses himself because seriously, what the hell is he even saying? He swallows once and tries again, this time picking a much more appropriate conversation starter.

"So, Becky, tell me about yourself," he says casually, as he starts removing a couple of CDs from the crate, reading the backs absentmindedly. "We're going to be spending a lot of time together so, you know, I guess we should try and get to know each other?"

"Uh, no thanks," she replies quickly, shaking her head at him, effectively cutting him off as she grabs a couple of CDs from the crate and starts stacking them and he has to bite back his laughter as he watches her struggle to place them on the top shelf.

"Here, let me," he says, moving beside her and gently taking the CDs from her before reaching up and slotting them on the shelf effortlessly, a smirk crossing his face before he can stop it at the way she instantly whips her head around, fixing him with a glare.

"I could have done that myself," she tells him, moving back towards the table to grab another stack of CDs, shooting him a look of disdain over her shoulder as he just laughs in response, his shoulders shaking slightly, "God, you're a weirdo, aren't you?"

"Yep," he replies, with a nod, "But so are you."

He laughs even harder as she whips her head around again but this time, he can see her lips twitching slightly and he knows he's getting somewhere.

"My name's Beca," she eventually tells him, at the end of the shift, as they're about to leave and go back to their respective dorms, "Not Becky."

Jesse grins in response from where he's holding the door open for her, waiting for her to gather her stuff together, and he bows awkwardly, waving his arms in a highly overdramatic manner, "It's nice to meet you, Beca."

She rolls her eyes at him, reaching up to punch him on the shoulder and it's so unexpected that he nearly stumbles backwards and she smirks at him, satisfied, and once he's recovered, he can't help but smile back.

"Come on, Beca," he says, tilting his head towards the open door before lowering his voice to a mock-whisper, widening his eyes, _"We have to escape before Luke makes us stack more CDs!"_

They're going to end up friends, he's sure of it.

* * *

Thanks to a juice pouch, a blanket and a ridiculous _candle _[which, to this day, she still has no idea why he brought with him], Jesse slowly manages to pry his way through her walls and into her life and it's not long before she's accepted that he's not going to leave her alone. They soon find a spot under a tree near her dorm which has the perfect amount of shade and before she knows it, it becomes their regular meeting spot and he's always there waiting for her after she finishes class, no questions asked.

Stacie, one of the girls from the Bellas, an a capella group that Jesse half-forced her to join, tells her that their whole arrangement is weird and that she should be more than a little bit alarmed by the way he _knows her timetable_ and how he's always around, grinning stupidly at her.

["That's _stalker_ behaviour," Stacie says, "It's only acceptable if he's good in bed—Wait, is he?", proceeding to click her tongue disappointedly at her as Beca hastily explains that her and Jesse, it's really not like that between them. She's not blind though and she can admit that Jesse does have a certain charm…]

The thing is, if she really thinks about it, it's not like she doesn't know that he has music class at nine in the morning on Tuesdays and history on a Wednesday afternoon and yes, Stacie's right, it _is_ completely weird, considering that she's known him for less than a month, but she thinks that maybe they're even.

And _maybe_ it's okay.

It surprises her but she realises that she doesn't mind it, doesn't mind _him_, too much; yes, he's bit of a dork and gets carried away way too easily…but he's entertaining and he makes her laugh.

"What are you up to, weirdo?" she asks, as they're sitting outside in their usual spot, having spent the last ten minutes distracted from her mix and instead, watching the way Jesse was frowning at his laptop screen, a clear look of frustration on his face. "Please tell me you're not getting worked up over a stupid movie."

He glances up at her, promptly shooting her an affronted look and she rolls her eyes. "There's no such thing as a 'stupid' movie, Beca," he tells her, before falling silent again, continuing to pull faces at his screen and after another minute, she sighs loudly, closing her laptop screen momentarily as she moves to kneel behind him, looking over his shoulder.

She scans the screen, an incredulous look slowly spreading across her face, before bursting out laughing. "Dude, this is absolutely terrible," she tells him, shaking her head lightly, as she continues to read. "What…What are you even trying to say?"

He blinks at her twice. And then again.

"You know _German_," he states, a slightly impressed look appearing on his face before he suddenly squints at her, giving her a suspicious look as she shrugs, looking so cool and _nonchalant_ about the whole thing, "Well, now I know why you don't like fun things."

She raises an eyebrow before promptly reaching a hand out to whack him on the back of his head. "I'm not fluent or anything," she explains, before smirking, leaning over to glance over at his absolutely pathetic excuse for an essay again, "But compared to you…"

"Thanks, Beca," he replies dryly, "You really helping."

"You're welcome," she says, smirking at him once more, and they fall silent again, her returning to her laptop and the mix she's currently in the middle of making – and which she _won't_ let him listen to, no matter how many times he asks or how much he pouts at her – and him to his essay.

It's about two minutes later when something strange occurs to her and she blinks at him, removing her headphones from her ears, tapping him on the shoulder.

"Uh, you don't even _take_ German…?"

Jesse stares at her, gives her a surprised look, as if he can't quite believe that she knows that, before shrugging slightly. "I switched," he says, "I wasn't getting anything out of my history class and Benji was always going on about how much he was enjoying his German class but—"

"—You absolutely suck?" she finishes for him before protesting wildly as he purses his lips at her words, promptly closing his laptop screen as he starts poking her side, "Dude, stop."

"Nope," he tells her, as he continues to press his fingers into her side, the warmth that comes with them not _entirely _unwelcome, "I'm not stopping until you take it back."

She shakes her head at him, biting her lip, and he tilts his head at her, raising an eyebrow as he keeps prodding at her gently and eventually, she can't help but collapse in laughter because he's just so ridiculous and stubborn.

"Look, weirdo," she says, before she can stop herself as her laughter slowly subsides, "If you need any help, just ask, okay?"

He grins.

* * *

Jesse's not sure what surprises him more; the fact that Beca has proved to be semi-fluent in German or the fact that here she is, in his dorm room on a Sunday morning, trying to teach him how to conjugate the present perfect tense. After her unexpected offer that day, her German lessons have become a regular occurrence and they have quickly become a highlight of his week, even though he _hates_ the class itself.

"Dude, come on, you can do this," she says exasperatedly, as she reaches over to his bed and aims a pillow at his head, "We've been through this before."

He just shakes his head, catching the pillow effortlessly as he shrugs innocently at her and she groans, leaning over his shoulder to explain it all over again. The truth is, he _does_ know how to do it, he had gotten it after the third time she had tried to explain it…but there's just something about the way she's really trying to get him to understand, all her attention focused solely on him, that makes him want to prolong this moment and enjoy it whilst he can.

By now, the fact that he likes her is really not much of a secret – to Bumper's annoyance, the other Trebles have gotten into the habit of spending a good portion of their rehearsals sitting around and teasing him about the whole thing; teasing him about being _weak_ and falling for a Bella – and he thinks that the only person that doesn't know is Beca herself.

[Or maybe she does and she's just doing a great job of hiding it.]

After the tenth time that he moans about not understanding what she's talking about, she seems to catch on and she swiftly reaches out a hand, turning his head to face her and all he can think about is how _good_ she looks as she stares at him fiercely, her gaze intense.

"Wait a second," she says, eyeing him suspiciously, "I see what's going on here."

"Do you?" he asks, his gaze still locked on hers, unable to tear his eyes away, "Are you sure about that?"

Beca just stares at him, not responding, and his breath catches as she leans forward ever so slightly, still maintaining eye-contact, until he thinks he can feel her breath grazing his cheek, but suddenly, she clears her throat, abruptly stepping back from him and the moment's gone.

"Is this some kind of joke to you?" she asks, turning away from him slightly, her voice sounding more insecure than he's ever heard it and he reacts quickly, jumping up from his chair as he tugs at her wrists, spinning her around to face him.

"Hey, no, of course not," he says, shaking his head at her, "I really appreciate your help, Beca."

Jesse holds her gaze for a few seconds longer until she slowly nods, her gaze glancing downwards at where his fingers are still grasping her wrists and he quickly releases her, giving her an apologetic smile. He's surprised to see the slightest hint of disappointment in her eyes as her hands fall to her sides, although she covers it well and a smirk is back on her face before he's had the chance to blink…but still, that's a good sign, right?

"Movie?" he asks, as Beca does nothing more but smirk at him, and despite her protests and moans, she allows him to drag her over to his laptop and it's at that moment, when she's sitting on his bed, smiling at the way he's mouthing the words as he watches the action on the screen, that he realises just how _much_ he's into her.

It should scare him.

But it doesn't, not really.

* * *

Beca's not quite sure how it happened but she's sitting outside at an ungodly hour in their spot, running through verb tenses with Jesse before his midterm tomorrow, slowly _freezing_ to death. The whole situation is crazy, it really is, especially because she has to be fully awake for Bellas' rehearsals in a couple of hours, but he had been so stressed and worried about it earlier that when he had asked her to help him, she couldn't say no.

She didn't even _consider_ saying no.

"Beca, are you okay?" he asks, as he pauses in the middle of conjugating a verb, noticing the way she's shivering as she tries her best to focus on what he's saying, listening out for any mistakes, "I'm sorry, you don't have to stay outside with me—"

"—No, it's fine, keep going," she says, cutting him off, gesturing at him to carry on.

They had started their revision session indoors a couple of hours ago but Jesse had become steadily more frustrated as he continued to make mistakes and eventually, she had dragged him outside for some fresh air. She's not quite sure that was the best move, seeing as her body temperature is falling swiftly, but he seems a lot calmer now and maybe that's all that matters.

He nods at her, hesitantly continuing, before he stops again, slowly locking his gaze with hers as he slides his arm around her shoulders, tugging her towards his side and she stares at him, at first resisting, but then she just surrenders, leaning into his embrace because she's _cold_ and he's warm.

[Okay, so maybe he's not _warm_ but he's comfy and she's tired and all she wants to do is go to sleep but she can't. Not yet. Not until he's stopped stressing.]

"Dude, stop worrying," she says, as she feeds him another sentence to translate and she feels his body tense, "You're going to be fine tomorrow."

He smiles gratefully, his eyes finding hers and she can't help but swallow hard as she watches his eyes flicker down to her lips and up again but then he's steadily avoiding her gaze, breathing hard, running his free hand through his hair, looking unbelievably guilty.

It's been blindingly obvious for weeks now, not only to her but to all the other Bellas, that Jesse likes her, in ways that aren't purely platonic, but they've never acknowledged it, never even gotten anywhere _close_ to mentioning it.

What isn't so blinding obvious, or so she thinks, is that sometimes - like right now, when his arm is so solid around her shoulders and she's leaning her head against him - she's pretty sure that she likes him that way too.

* * *

She's wrong. It _is_ obvious.

Jesse can tell that she definitely feels something for him from the way she flushes and then scowls whenever he gets a little bit too close to her or when his fingers accidentally [on purpose] brush hers when he takes a stack of CDs from her…but he's a gentleman and he's not going to make a move, not until he gets a proper sign from her.

But everything changes one morning, a month after he's taken his midterms, when he's in the men's bathroom, washing his hands and he sees Amy, of all people, watching him from the corner of the room and he swears his heart stops for a second.

"Lover boy, I have a question for you," she says casually, as she's perched up on one of the sinks, precariously close to the edge, as if there's nothing at all peculiar about her being in the _men's_ bathroom, spying on him, "Why aren't you tapping that flat butt?"

He frowns. What the hell?

"—_Beca._ Why aren't you getting it on with Beca?" she clarifies with a sigh, "She clearly likes you, she talks about you _all the time._" Amy rolls her eyes at Jesse's stunned expression as she proceeds to tut at him in a disappointed fashion, "Man up, Lover boy, she's not going to be single forever..."

He frowns again.

And then he shrugs.

He decides to step up his game.

* * *

Beca doesn't know what happened or what changed but somehow, in the past week, Jesse has completely forgotten about the concept of personal space. Suddenly, he's absolutely everywhere, like right now, when he's standing _really, really_ close to her as he reaches up from behind her to place a CD on one of the higher shelves, his breath warm on the back of her neck.

"Dude," she warns, suddenly flustered, as she feels his fingers graze the side of her hip and he starts slowly tracing circles there and she whips her head around to see him bearing a completely innocent look on his face, as if he's doing nothing wrong and keeping his hands to himself, "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," he replies with an easy smile, taking a step back from her and moving back to the table, _Luke's precious table_, and grabbing another stack of CDs. "Is something wrong?"

She narrows her eyes at him - what is he playing at? - but she breathes a sigh of relief as soon as his back is turned, ducking quickly behind one of the shelves as she subtly tries to compose herself. She thinks she succeeds, managing to successfully finish stacking the next set of CDs without a hiccup, but ten minutes later and he's at it again and this time, she notices that she doesn't ask him to stop.

She doesn't think she can. She doesn't think she _wants_ to.

Instead, she just leans into his touch ever so slightly, hating herself a little for the triumphant grin that spreads across his face at her movements.

* * *

Jesse carries on like this for about a week, all subtle touches and intense stares, before finally, she cracks:

They're in their usual spot outside her dorm and Beca's standing over his seated self as she tries to explain his German assignment to him in plain English when he suddenly reaches up and slides his arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him.

She stumbles a little, nearly falling onto his lap but she recovers well and their eyes meet. She's staring at him with an unreadable expression on her face but slowly, _so slowly_, a smirk creeps its way onto her lips and he nearly forgets how to breathe when she leans her head down until her mouth is brushing his ear, her breath hot on his skin.

"Concentrate, weirdo," she says.

He doesn't.

* * *

She doesn't know when or how but it becomes a bit of an unspoken game between the two of them. He tries to fluster her by pressing his body against hers for a split second as soon as Luke's back is turned and she retaliates by slowly dragging her nails down his side when he's in the middle of reciting the past tense to her.

"Wrong," she says, with a smug smirk, as he falters mid-sentence, all thoughts of German gone from his mind at her touch, "Start again."

He pulls a face at her, his hand swiftly reaching out to cover hers, stilling her movements as he starts again, shooting her a victorious look as he makes his way through this time without a hitch.

She cocks an eyebrow at him and gives him another verb to conjugate and as he frowns, thinking hard, she quickly ducks her head forward to drag her mouth against his jawline, collapsing into laughter as he starts spluttering, breathing hard.

"Not fair," he mumbles, but he's laughing too, "That is _so_ not fair."

If there's one thing that Beca hates, it's losing.

* * *

Jesse knows it's not healthy, this…thing that they have going on but he can't bring himself to stop. So far, they haven't really stopped to talk about it, talk about what it _means_ and to be honest, he's not even sure if he knows anymore. He had originally started it just to give her a little push in the right direction but now, now he thinks that maybe it's gotten a bit out of hand.

"Beca," he says, as they're sitting side by side on his bed one night, their knees touching as they watch a movie, "I think we need to talk."

She glances up at him, surprised, and he watches, his heart sinking, as she swallows and he instantly knows what she's about to say.

"No," she insists, "No, we really don't."

It's not that she doesn't want to talk, it's more that she doesn't know what to say. She knows that her and Jesse have been playing a dangerous game and she knows that they're _so, very close_ to crossing that line between being friends and being something much more.

She's not sure how she feels about that.

Being around Jesse, it's easy and natural but yet, she knows from past experience that relationships are complicated and she's awful at them. She'd rather keep things how they are, even if he's staring at her with a disappointed expression and she feels like the worst person in the whole world.

He doesn't push her any further and things go back to normal, as if that conversation never happened…but she can't help but play it over and over in her mind, wondering whether she did the right thing.

Three weeks later, as she's leaning against his shoulder, Jesse's fingers absentmindedly playing with her hair as he listens to one of her mixes with an almost reverent look on his face, she's starts to think that maybe she was wrong.

Maybe she _can_ do this.

* * *

As soon as he gets notification that the results from his midterms have been posted online, the first thing Jesse does is text Beca, his heart pounding really hard in his chest. He doesn't want to open it whilst he's alone, not only because, well, he thought the exam went okay but not _great_ but also because he knows that if he's passed, it's all thanks to Beca.

"Hey, weirdo," she greets, shooting him a smile as she enters his room, "You checked it yet?"

He shakes his head, gesturing towards his open laptop and she rolls her eyes at him, pausing to trail a hand down his arm before she's pushing past him with a smirk and walking over to the screen.

"I don't want to know," he moans, covering his eyes with his hands as he promptly flops himself onto his bed, lying on his back and he hears her laugh, muttering something about his ridiculousness. The room goes silent, except for the distinct sound of clicking and he squeezes his eyes shut. It isn't until he feels her dragging her fingers all the way down his chest, getting dangerously low, that he sits up and his breath catches at the serious expression on her face.

"Oh my god, did I _fail_?"

She doesn't reply, her eyes meeting his and he stares right back, his heart plummeting as the seconds drag on.

"Beca?" he prompts, shooting her a confused look, but suddenly, her hands are clutching his shirt and she's pulling him towards her and her mouth is hot against his. His hands settle on her waist, his mind struggling to catch up with what's happening and wondering whether they should be doing this without talking about it properly first but as her hands make their way into his hair and she pulls, bringing him flush against her, he can't seem to find it in him to care about that right now.

"You passed," she tells him simply, as she lets him go and he stares at her, eyes wide, feeling a little dazed. "German," she says, as she gets no response, raising an eyebrow at him as she reaches up to pat his cheek fondly, "You passed German."

"Well, of course," he says as soon as he's recovered a little, his mouth still feeling slightly numb, "I'm a _natural _ at German."

He grins widely at her as she rolls her eyes at him, pushing him back onto his bed with an '_Idiot_', as she moves to straddle him, laughing at his surprised look.

She knows she made the right choice.


	3. three - seven days

**Prompt**: _maybe B/J meet while they're both on vacation with friends and things get steamy on vacation_ _– zvforever_

* * *

**N**UMBER **T**HREE

Jesse's not quite sure how he got roped into buying drinks for all of the Treble boys but here he is, absolutely _melting_ in the heat, pushing his way through the crowd of disgustingly warm bodies. It takes him a whole six minutes before he finally reaches the counter and when he does, he grins triumphantly…but then his grin is swiftly wiped away when he sees that the bartender is on the opposite side of the room.

Great, just great.

He sighs, pulling the bundle of notes that the other Treble boys had shoved at him from his pocket, beginning to wave them around in an attempt to flag down the bartender when he suddenly hears the distinctive sound of an amused snort from his left. He blinks, whipping his head to the side, raising an eyebrow as he sees a striking but undeniably attractive brunette casually sitting on top of the counter, watching his every move with a smirk on her face.

"_Amateur_," she says, as she realises that she's gotten his attention, glancing up at the way he's still wildly waving his hand around with a shake of her head and he can't help but stare indignantly back at her.

"Excuse me?"

She just shrugs in response, swiftly leaning towards him and plucking one of the notes from his hand before he can stop her and he watches, frozen to the spot, as she quickly glances over at the bartender. Once she's satisfied that he's still suitably occupied, she smoothly slips around the counter and he swallows hard as his eyes are instantly drawn to the tiny silver of skin between the bottom of her shirt and the waistband of her jeans that the motion reveals.

"Okay, what do you want?"

Jesse blinks, hastily dragging his gaze back to her face, his eyes wide as he registers what she's just asked him and what she's about to do. "I—What are you doing?" he hisses, his eyes frantically moving between her and the bartender, his heart suddenly pounding even though he's on the _right_ side of the counter and if anyone's going to get caught, it's her, not him… "You can't do that!"

She rolls her eyes again, her hand on her hip, giving him such a look of disapproval that he instantly regrets his last words, wishing he could have taken them back and acted a whole lot _cooler_ about the whole thing…but he's revoltingly hot and uncomfortable at the moment and what she's doing, he's pretty sure it's borderline illegal and he can't let it go. The last thing he wants today is to get arrested.

"Like I said: _amateur_," she repeats, with a shake of her head, quickly turning to grab a beer bottle from behind her and opening it, leaving his note behind the counter as she slides back over, pushing the ice-cold bottle into his hand...but he doesn't take it, he just stares.

"Dude, it's okay, it's not going to kill you. Besides, it's not like you didn't pay for it," she tells him, her eyebrows raised as she tries to hand it over to him again but to no avail, "But if you don't want it…"

He continues staring at her, his eyes widening as she raises the bottle up to her own lips, tipping the bottle back as she takes a sip and he swallows hard, transfixed, as he watches a drop of liquid escape her mouth and—

"—Hey, wait, that's mine," he says, as he forces himself to drag his gaze back to her eyes, feeling more than a little flustered [be _cool_, Jesse, be cool], suddenly remembering exactly where he is and what has just happened.

She shrugs at him, taking yet another torturously slow sip but there's now a smirk on her face, clear as day, and he knows he's been caught. As he continues to gape at her, not quite sure what to say, she just leans in, winking at him and he flushes instantly, reaching up to run a hand through his hair.

"Thanks for the drink," she says, as she raises the bottle up to her head in a mock salute before she promptly saunters away from him without a second glance and he can't help but follow her retreating form with his eyes until she's gone, lost in the crowd.

…And then he swears because he's now five dollars short and he's still in desperate need of a drink.

* * *

"Earth to Flatbutt," Amy says and she glances up from her laptop, instantly recoiling as she's greeted by the sight of Amy's _backside_ in her face as she dances around in front of her in an attempt to get her attention.

"Dude, what are you doing?" she manages to get out as she leans back as far as she can go in her chair, completely horrified, glancing over at the other girls for help but they're all simply staring back, smug looks on their faces, all of them a little relieved that it's her, not them that's getting this…view.

Amy just shrugs, turns back around, seating herself back down opposite her. "It's not my fault you weren't listening to me," she says innocently, as if she's done nothing wrong, and Beca rolls her eyes, returning her gaze back to her laptop screen, sighing as Amy instantly reaches over to pinch her arm _hard_, getting her attention again, "There's a hot guy on your left that's been eye-fucking the side of your head for the last ten minutes."

She blinks, eyebrow raised, as she watches Chloe and Stacie both unsubtly swivel around in their chairs to stare at whoever this poor boy is, both of them making noises of approval as they turn to face her again, wide grins on their faces.

"He's cute," Chloe says.

"Yep, I'd definitely tap that," Stacie agrees.

She sighs, her curiosity piqued, carefully sliding her eyes to her left, her eyes widening in recognition as she spots _him_, the guy from the bar, the guy who she may or may not have flirted with just because she was bored and he was there…and besides, she hadn't really expected to see him ever again, especially not so soon. She guesses she shouldn't be so shocked though; thanks to Aubrey stupidly leaving the planning of the Bellas yearly vacation to Stacie, of all people, they're currently at one of the biggest student holiday destinations where everyone frequents the same few bars, the same few beaches, the same _everything_.

Beca watches as he slowly raises the bottle in his hand, crookedly saluting her in the same way that she had saluted him yesterday and it takes her by surprise but she finds that she can't help but bite her lip to stop herself from laughing because he's completely over-exaggerating his movement and he looks like such a _weirdo_ and all his guy friends are giving him really odd looks in response.

"Beca, do you know him?" Chloe asks, narrowing her eyes, and Beca tears her gaze away with a firm shake of her head, returning back to the mix she's in the middle of editing before she lets out an exasperated sigh as she hears Chloe speak again, excitedly bouncing in her chair, clapping her hands together, "He's coming over!"

Before she knows it, all of the Bellas have very indiscreetly vacated their chairs, leaving her completely alone and she glares at their retreating backs.

_Idiots_.

"Hey there, girl-from-the-bar," she hears a familiar voice say a few seconds later and she sighs yet again, glancing up from her screen [why can't everyone just leave her in peace?] to see him sitting opposite her, grinning, his eyes warm. "I think you owe me a drink."

Beca blinks up at him, eyebrows raised as she purses her lips together, shaking her head. "I don't owe you anything," she retorts, sliding her eyes back to her laptop again, "It's not my fault you weren't showing any interest in it…"

He shrugs in response, giving her a smile as he leans across the table, looking much less flustered than he had been yesterday during their brief encounter and she narrows her eyes. What is he up to?

"So…what's up?" he asks, his face mere inches away from hers and she stares, a little taken aback by his easy confidence, having trouble matching _this_ guy with the guy from yesterday…

"Uh, nothing," she finally replies, giving absolutely nothing away, biting the inside of her cheek as he simply tilts his head to the side, unfazed, before promptly getting up and sliding into the seat right beside her. She blinks, ducking her head slightly, letting her hair cover her face to hide the traitorous blush she can feel rising up her neck at his sudden proximity. [Okay, so maybe there _was_ another reason to why she had decided to speak to him yesterday; the girls were right, he did have a certain charm…]

"Hey, this looks pretty cool," he says, completely oblivious to her reaction, his eyes scanning the screen of her laptop, leaning forward to get a better look, "Are you a music major?"

She nods slowly, not entirely sure where he's going with this.

"Awesome, me too," he says, grinning widely at her, suddenly holding up his palm towards her and she blinks at him, a perplexed expression spreading across her face.

He gives her a weird look, his other hand reaching out to gently grab her wrist, pulling her hand towards his, letting their open palms collide. "_High five_," he says, in the dorkiest way possible, adding in ridiculous sound effects and she stares at him, feeling herself flush, partly because that was really stupid of her and partly because he's still pressing their hands together and all she can think about is how much larger his hand is compared to hers and how warm and weirdly _good_ his skin feels pressed against hers…

The thing is, it's been about fifteen seconds now and he still hasn't let go of her wrist. She clears her throat, trying to regain some composure as she fixes her eyes on him, blinking a little as she sees that he's staring intently at her and she can't help but stare right back, her eyes taking in every inch of his face, his jawline, his _eyes_.

"Do you want to, uh, maybe...return my arm?" she asks, when the silence between them starts to get uncomfortably long, smirking a bit as he releases her as if he's been burnt, awkwardly running a hand through his hair, looking more than a little guilty. Clearly, this…thing between them, whatever it is, it goes both ways.

"So, girl-from-the-bar," he addresses her when he's recovered, an easy smile returning on to his face as he turns to her once again, his eyes sparkling, "What's your name?"

"Beca," she says, slowly, "My name's Beca."

She figures there's no harm in letting him know; after all, she's only here for another seven days and then she'll be back at Barden and she'll never see him again…

* * *

It's ironic, Jesse thinks, that the one girl that he meets whilst on _vacation_ is the one girl that he can't stop thinking about but Beca's so witty and so...effortlessly beautiful that he just can't seem to shake his attraction towards her.

He talks to her for three whole hours until she apologetically excuses herself when she gets a phone call from someone named 'Fat Amy' [he's still not quite sure whether she's joking about that nickname…] but through their conversation, he finds out that they live in neighbouring states and he knows it's stupid, he knows it is, but he can't help himself from thinking that maybe, just maybe, this is a _sign_.

Okay, maybe not.

"Swanson, what's on your mind?" Donald says from beside him, interrupting his thoughts, as they're both lying in the shade on the beach, keeping an eye on Bumper and making sure he doesn't get himself put into jail for indecent exposure [it's happened before, okay? _No-one _is safe around Bumper…] "You look like you're thinking too hard."

He shrugs.

Donald turns, squints at him and then a look of realisation spreads across his face and Jesse groans; he's learnt from his short time with the Trebles that Donald is way more perceptive than he looks and he is _not going to let this go_. "You're thinking about that girl from yesterday, aren't you?"

Jesse sighs, sitting up, running a hand through his hair but eventually, he nods. "I don't know what's wrong with me but I can't stop thinking about her," he says slowly, his eyes wistful as he stares off to the ocean where Bumper is chasing a terrified-looking Benji around the sand, "I just—I can't help myself."

Donald shakes his head sympathetically, clapping a firm hand onto his shoulder, "Jesse, don't do this to yourself," he advises, "It's not going to work out; just try and get her out of your system."

He bites his lip, grits his teeth and nods stiffly in response, following Donald as the other boy promptly gets up and starts walking towards the other Trebles, his mind still filled with thoughts of Beca—

"—Hey, Swanson, isn't that her?" Donald says, stopping so suddenly in the sand that Jesse can't help but walk straight into him with a grimace. He quickly apologises, taking a step backwards before the other boy's words sink in and he slowly lifts his gaze in the direction Donald's pointing in, his eyes widening as he realises he's right.

"No, man, come on, don't go over, be _cool_," Donald says, but it's too late and Jesse's already started walking away, his gaze fixed on the group of girls he can see sitting in a circle on the sand or, more specifically, fixed on a very bored-looking Beca.

It takes her approximately five seconds before she spots him walking in her direction and he grins, raising a hand in greeting as she slowly lifts the water bottle in her hand to her head, saluting him…and now that he thinks about it, she still owes him that drink. He watches, a little mortified, as suddenly, eight girls whip their head around to stare at him before all simultaneously rising up and walking towards the water, leaving Beca alone despite her protests.

She rolls her eyes.

"Well, that was embarrassing," she remarks, as he draws close, slowly lowering himself down onto the sand beside her. "What's up? Are you stalking me or something?"

Jesse just grins in response, giving her a shrug as he leans back onto his elbows, watching her every move, the way the sun's bouncing off her face, the way her eyes are glinting at him. "Nope, I'm not stalking you," he replies, leaning his head towards her as he lowers his voice, adding, "But hey, if you want me to, I'd be more than happy to…"

He trails off as she starts punching him in the shoulder, a laugh escaping her lips, and he yelps, smiling at her, his hands quickly reaching to grab her wrists, stilling her movements and suddenly, she's staring at him and it's not so funny anymore. He swallows, watching as her gaze moves from his eyes to his lips and then back again but then he sees a tiny flicker of doubt in her eyes and the moment's gone.

"Hey, Jesse," she says, a little hesitantly, dragging her eyes away from him, staring at her lap instead, "You want to go and get some ice-cream?"

He smiles, promptly getting up and shaking the sand off his shorts before making a big show of offering her his hand. She rolls her eyes, the corner of her lips quirking upwards in amusement, but she takes his hand and he doesn't let go.

If anything, he holds on a little tighter, smoothly slotting his fingers between hers as they walk.

* * *

Beca feels out of control, thrown, her head spinning. She doesn't understand why she's letting some boy she barely knows _hold her hand_ as they walk towards the ice-cream stand but all she knows is that although their whole situation is just so cliché, so predictable, she doesn't mind it.

Not even a bit.

…And Jesus, that fact annoys her, more than anything, because she's never been the type of person that lets in other people so easily, without a second thought. This goes against everything she's ever stood for, everything she's ever known and it's just so…frustrating. The problem is, Jesse's charming and he makes her laugh over the smallest, tiniest, most _insignificant_ things and she can't stop herself from gripping his hand a little bit tighter even though she sort of hates herself for doing so.

"Hey, you okay?" Jesse says from beside her, abruptly stopping in the middle of the sidewalk as he turns to glance down at her, a concerned expression on his face.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replies slowly even though she's really _not_ and he narrows his eyes just a bit, searching her face, before he shakes his head, swivelling her around to face the ice-cream stand in the far distance.

"Last one to get there has to pay," he says suddenly, with a grin, and she blinks in surprise as he quickly drops her hand, running off away from her and she bites her lip, fighting the urge to laugh before she starts chasing him.

"You are such a dork," she yells at his back, rolling her eyes as he turns around to face her, running _backwards_, bumping into a couple of unimpressed strangers, and she thinks she can just make out that he's sticking his tongue out at her.

By the time she's finally managed to catch up with him, she's out of breath and he's pushing an ice-cream cone into her hand. "Nice of you to make it," he says, an amused look on his face as she scowls at his words but accepts the ice-cream all the same.

"I thought I was supposed to be paying?"

Jesse just shrugs, leading her away from the stand and she falls into step beside him, their arms brushing as they walk and she feels herself flush just a little at the sensation. "It's okay, you can buy next time," he tells her and she opens her mouth to retort but then she notices him wince from the corner of her eyes and her words die away. She knows exactly what he's thinking: there might not _be_ a next time.

She eyes him, watches the way he's studiously staring at his ice-cream, suddenly looking unbelievably awkward, and she takes a deep breath, making her mind up. "You free tomorrow?" she asks casually, unable to hide her smile as he glances up at her in surprise and then nods.

Sure, this whole thing is unfamiliar and weird and she's still not entirely sure what to make of it but she hasn't felt so at ease around anyone in a long time, even the Bellas. She doesn't know why; maybe it's because she knows that in seven days, she'll probably never see him again or maybe it's just because of _him..._

* * *

The next six days pass in a blur. He meets her for ice-cream [and this time, she pays], takes her out for dinner, lies beside her on the beach listening to one of her mixes, and he makes it his goal to find out everything that he possibly can about her, what she likes, what she dislikes...but, unfortunately, all good things have to come to an end and it's crazy just how fast time has gone and he can't quite get his head around the fact that she's leaving tomorrow morning, leaving him, and this might be the last time he'll ever see her.

"You alright there, weirdo?" Beca asks, nudging his shoulder as they sit side by side at the bar, the same bar where he had met her that very first time, and it's funny but he thinks that for once, he's actually _grateful_ for the fact that Bumper always manages to bully him into being the one that buys the drinks for everyone.

"Yeah, I'm…I'm good," he replies, turning to give her a half-smile and she frowns straight away, fixing him with an intense stare that he can't quite escape from.

The seconds drag on but she doesn't say anything, shaking her head ever so slightly and he thinks she knows exactly what he's thinking. He opens his mouth to say something, anything, to break the heavy atmosphere that has fallen but he promptly shuts it again as he feels her fingers suddenly grasp his wrist and she tugs him outside.

"Come on," she says, "Let's walk."

Jesse smiles, nodding, and he wraps an arm around her shoulders, bringing her closer, as they talk about absolutely everything _apart_ from her imminent departure. He's in the middle of telling her a ridiculous story about Bumper and the other guys when suddenly, he feels her slide her arm around his waist and he stops, mid-sentence, glancing down at her in surprise...but she's just staring straight ahead, an unreadable expression on her face, and so, he resumes his story.

It's been nearly a week and sure, it's been obvious since day one that he's attracted to her [and, he thinks, vice versa], but he hasn't made a move, not really, because the whole thing's just too complicated…but as he feels her tighten her grip slightly, her thumb tracing, no, _burning_ patterns into his side, he can't help but think that this could be his last chance and that maybe 'complicated' isn't the worst thing in the world.

But then he shakes his head hard, remembering Donald's words from earlier that week; this, whatever this is, it won't work out and he'll just be hurting himself, hurting her, if he acts on his instincts.

"Jesse," she says, getting his attention as she leans against the wall outside of her hotel hours later, staring up at him, "It was…nice to meet you."

He swallows, nodding, a bittersweet smile on his face as he stares at her, trying to commit every little detail about her to memory. He's always hated goodbyes but he thinks that this is possibly the _worst_ goodbye he's ever had to go through. He just wishes they had more time together, he wishes that they had met under different circumstances.

He takes a step back away from her, letting her leave but then suddenly, she's giving him an odd, calculated look, swiftly closing the distance between them that he's just created and her hand's reaching out to grip his shirt as she pulls him flush against her and he freezes.

"Jesse," he hears her say softly, her eyes locked on his, and it's that, the simple call of his name from her lips, that spurs him into action and without wasting any more time, he bends his head down to her level, feeling her fingers sliding themselves into his hair, as he presses his mouth firmly against hers. He thinks he can feel her smiling against his lips as her fingers gently push against the back of his head, pulling him impossibly closer, as his hands slide to rest against her waist and he starts to coax her mouth open...but then he remembers exactly where they are and exactly what situation they're in and instead, he loosens his grip, tilting his head slightly to press a chaste kiss against her cheek.

"We—We shouldn't," he says, his hands still gripping her hips, and he watches, captivated, as she takes a deep breath, steadies herself, and then nods, giving him a small smile. He slides them both down onto the ground until they're leaning against the wall, seated on the grass, and he takes her hand in his, interlacing their fingers.

"It was nice to meet you too," he tells her, moments later, repeating her words from earlier and she laughs because, frankly, their whole situation is crazy and ridiculous and she doesn't know how else to react and, as he stares at her, watching her tilt her head backwards, he can't help but laugh too.

"Hey, weirdo," she says later, when they've just said their goodbyes for the second time, boldly reaching out a hand and sliding his phone out of his pocket, quickly inputting her number, "Call me, okay?"

Jesse nods, slowly taking the phone back from her, smiling as he sees that she's entered herself in as 'that girl from the bar'.

If it's meant to be, it'll work out somehow, he knows it will, he _hopes_ it will.

* * *

She doesn't hear from him.

He doesn't call.

* * *

It's stupid, she knows it is, but two months later and she still can't stop thinking about Jesse. He never called her and she guesses this is a sign that she didn't have as much of an effect on him as he had on her and she should just try and forget about him…but it's not that easy. She supposes, if she really wanted to, it wouldn't be so hard to seek him out online – after all, they're bound to have some mutual friends, right? – and she's gotten close to trying a couple of times but then she just shakes her head, shutting her laptop down, berating herself for still clinging onto the boy who _clearly_ couldn't care less.

The Bellas notice the change, notice how she's suddenly throwing herself into rehearsals in an attempt to distract herself and at first, they're concerned, but then they've qualified for Regionals for the first time _ever_, thanks to the mixes she had practically forced onto Aubrey, and she starts smiling a little more and they stop worrying so much.

"Dude, no, I don't want it," she says, as Aubrey tries to push a file into her hand, "It's _weird_."

Winning Sectionals has affected all of them but _especially_ Aubrey. The blonde girl has become so obsessed with the whole thing, so determined to win and get to the top of the a capella world, that she's spent the past two weeks researching their 'rivals' at the upcoming Regionals competition and compiling a file on them.

"Take it, Beca," Aubrey insists and, with a sigh, she slowly takes it from the other girl, leaning back in her chair as she starts leafing through it, if only to appease the blonde. Her eyes widen in disbelief as she sees just how much effort Aubrey has put into the document but then again, she guesses she shouldn't be so surprised; the girl is a total perfectionist, after all.

"Oh _shit_," she hears Amy comment from behind her and she blinks as suddenly, the Australian girl has quickly leaned forward and smoothly plucked the file from her hand.

"Hey! I was reading that," she says, in protest, because okay, so maybe the whole thing that Aubrey's done is more than a little weird but she supposes it's not the worst thing in the world to get to know a bit more about their competition. She may not show it as openly as Aubrey but she wants to win just as much.

"Uh, Flatbutt, I think we might have a problem," Amy tells her and she raises an eyebrow, narrowing her eyes as the other girl stares at her with an overly sympathetic look on her face, "Just promise me you won't freak out, okay?"

She shoots Amy a weird look but nods once, blinking in surprise as Amy swiftly slides into the seat next to her, slowly handing her the file, open on one of the pages she hadn't gotten around to reading yet, and her eyes widen in utter disbelief as they land on an all too familiar face.

_Jesse_.

* * *

It's not that he doesn't _want_ to call her because he does, of course he does; no, it's that the week they had, it was absolutely perfect, like something out of a movie, and he's scared that if he does call her, it'll ruin everything and so, he puts it off, telling himself he'll call the next day…except the days turn into weeks and the weeks turn into months and now he thinks it's just too late for him to call her and he hates himself for having been such a coward and he tries to forget about the whole thing.

It doesn't work; sure, he's been kept busy, thanks to Bumper working them ridiculously hard, making them rehearse in between classes until all of them can't _wait _for Regionals to be over, but the last thought before he goes to sleep each night is always about her. He's an idiot, he really is: why hadn't he just called her?

"—Hey, Swanson, isn't that the girl you met during the Trebles trip?"

Jesse blinks, interrupted from his thoughts, glancing at Donald in surprise, as they're sitting in the audience at Regionals, waiting for the other acts to finish performing their sets so that they can leave. Donald just tilts his head towards the stage and slowly, ever so slowly, he slides his eyes towards the front of the auditorium, his mouth falling open as yes, Donald's right, _Beca_ is there right in front of him.

He can't stop a slow smile from crossing his face as he watches her focus on the performance, singing her heart out, working the stage with ease, recognising the mix that they're currently performing as one of the ones that she showed him on the beach that week…

…But then she's frowning slightly, scanning the crowd until suddenly, she's unmistakeably staring right at him and he blinks, unable to tear his eyes away as the song unexpectedly changes to a tune that he instantly recognises as being the Simple Minds song from 'The Breakfast Club', one of his favourite movies. He stares, absolutely mesmerised, following her every move as she walks forward to centre stage, her eyes fixed on his, an unreadable expression on her face as she sings directly at him: _don't you forget about me_.

He swallows, winces.

He should have called.

* * *

Once the performance is finished, the first thing she does is scan the crowd for Jesse again. She's not mad at him for not calling, even though she knows that she probably should be, no, she just wants some answers. It doesn't take long for her to find him as he hasn't moved from his position even though the rest of his group has long gone and she's surprised to see that he's staring right at her, looking unbelievably guilty, as he slowly lifts a hand to his head, giving her a salute similar to the one that she had given him all those weeks ago.

"Beca, hey," he says, when she's standing right in front of him, fixing him with the most neutral expression she can muster up as she watches him run a hand through his hair, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

"God, Beca, I'm really sorry. I'm so sorry," he tells her, seconds later, his expression sincere and she forces herself not to say anything and instead, just gestures for him to keep going. He lets out a sigh, seating himself back down, staring at the floor, avoiding her gaze. "It's stupid, I know, but I—I was scared," he says quietly, and there's something about the solemn tone of his voice that makes her instantly realise that he's telling the truth and that he feels awful about the whole thing and so, she slowly slips herself into the seat beside him, just listening, "I wanted to call, I _swear, _I haven't been able to stop thinking about you…but I just didn't want to ruin the week we had. I don't know, I guess I—"

"—You're an idiot," she interrupts, relief washing over her as she realises that he _had_ wanted to call her and that he hadn't, as she had previously assumed, forgotten all about her, and he glances up in surprise but then slowly, looking a little shamefaced, he nods in agreement. "You're an actual idiot."

"I'm so sorry," he says again and she just shakes her head at him, leaning against his shoulder as she just thinks about everything he's just told her.

If she's honest, even though she's had weeks to prepare for this, she still can't believe that he's _here_, that the universe has found some way to make their paths cross again, and even though she's never believed in fate or superstition, she has to admit that this is one crazy coincidence and maybe, it's their second chance.

She takes a deep breath, making up her mind as she lifts her head up from his shoulder, grabbing his hand and tugging him upwards. "Come on, weirdo," she says, as she starts to pull him out of the room and towards the bar where all the a capella groups are congregating in front of, "I think I still owe you a drink."

* * *

Jesse can't believe his luck, he really can't; somehow, _Beca's_ here right beside him and she's buying him that drink she owes him despite his multiple protests and god, he doesn't deserve this. It's in that moment, when she pushes a bottle into his hand, that he vows that he's not going to let her go this time and that he's going to put all his efforts into making the last few months up to her, even though she swears she's not mad.

"Hey, Beca, give me your phone," he says, as he takes a sip of his drink and she blinks up at him in surprise before nodding, sliding it over.

He quickly inputs his number, under 'that _idiot_ from the bar', and hands it back to her and she glances at the screen, rolls her eyes, but then smiles, nudging her shoulder gently against his. It doesn't surprise him in the slightest that despite not having seen each other in months, they fall back into a relatively normal banter and it doesn't take long before she's pulled his hand around her shoulder and he's grinning down at her.

He's determined to make this work, he _will_ make this work, no matter how complicated and difficult it's inevitably going to be.

"Call me, okay?" she says, as they're saying goodbye for the third time and he nods, this time meaning it wholeheartedly. She smiles up at him, raising a hand in farewell but before she can turn away, he's grabbed her wrist, tugging her firmly towards him, a hand reaching under her chin to tilt her head up, giving him better access as he bends his head down, pressing his lips against hers and it isn't long before he feels her respond.

_Okay_.


End file.
